Running a business will see you focus on all sorts of areas of business operations that you may not have considered getting involved with before. Product development. Market research. Manufacturing. Recruitment. The list goes on.
But one area that people often forget and fail to engage with – often to the detriment of themselves and their entire business – is health and safety. Health and safety should be a top priority of yours. It should be central to every business’ operations, actions and decision making process. After all, without following health and safety guidelines, your staff, customers or other individuals spending time in your commercial premises and facilities could come to harm.
Not only is it important to avoid this from a moral and ethical standpoint, but failing to implement proper health and safety measures could result in costly legal action against your business, as well as a hugely damaged reputation. Here are some steps you can take to keep on top of it.
Maintain Your Premises
Maintaining your premises is the first step you should take when it comes to health and safety. As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Use a property management service that will take care of any problems that arise. Whether that’s electrical faults, plumbing issues, hygiene issues or anything else.
Tackle Problems Straight Away
Of course, no matter how well you maintain your commercial premises, issues are bound to arise at some point or another. This is just how things go. Sure, it can be irritating. But when things break, you do need to repair them and rectify the situation straight away. All too often, office management and business owners will notice a problem and try to sweep it under the carpet as long as it isn’t an immediate threat.
But small problems can rapidly become major problems and it’s always better to tackle them sooner rather than later. This will be more cost effective and will prevent risk of injury or illness for any of your staff. If there are issues with a water tank in the office, invest in water pumps. If there’s a small leak, call a plumber. If you notice exposed wires anywhere, call an electrician. It really is that simple. Wherever there’s a problem, there will be a solution.
Make Sure You Have Proper Health and Safety Essentials in Place
There are plenty of health and safety essentials that should be in place for your business.
- Fire Safety –Your commercial premises should have sufficient fire exits with sufficient fire exit signs. Ideally, these should glow in the dark in case of power cut outs. You should also have fire extinguishers (the most common types of fire extinguishers used include water, AFFF foam, carbon dioxide, ABC powder, water mist, and wet chemical) and a fire safety protocol.
- Safety Signs –As well as fire exit signs, you should have signs for low ceilings, steps and wet floors.
These steps should really help you to keep your business as safe as possible, preventing any issues from occurring!
